Haven't posted for a while. I felt like the bike was going decently but it's my first bike, what do I know, so I brought it to a mechanic I know and trust on recommendation from a few different people. Budget was limited so I asked him to just bring it up to safety level and ignore actual running issues for now as I can give the carbs a clean and we can look at that more over winter. The bike was running alright so I just wanted to get it on the road for the last couple days of the season if possible (oh yeah - got my license earlier in the month!).
The bike had more issues than I had known about it so heres all the mechanic did:
- Took apart headlight bracket and bucket, straightened everything out and repaired (don't know if it showed in photos but the bucket was all messed up and had big gaps)
- New signal relay
- Disassemble breaks and rebuild caliper with new seals, clean master cylinder
- Rebuild front forks, new seals and dust boots. Apparently the forks were leaking pretty badly
- New clutch cable, remove literally about a pound of dirt from the clutch cover. Photo below on this one. When I asked how the hell that would even happen he told me there's a hole in the bottom of my clutch cover
- Remove all the horribly stripped screws and replace them with hex bolts. Super happy about this because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get them out. I'll be replacing all the good ones with hex as well when I've got time.
- Compression test - this was good
He says the brakes are still a bit soft and he wants to do a new line and master cylinder seals. I had already gone over budget so I couldn't do more parts right now but he said when I'm ready over winter or early spring he'll do that for just parts cost for me.
Now unfortunately I've run into a new problem. They fired up the bike and it was only running on one cylinder. They drained the carbs and there was bad gas in there but again, I was over budget so that's as far as they went. He says it's likely a clogged up jet and just needs cleaning but there's also a (slim) chance that she'll go with new gas. So last night I drained everything and put in fresh gas. Went to start it aaaaand.... damn battery was dead. So as soon as I finish this post I'll be heading to the shop to take the battery off the charger and hope she runs. If so I can get maybe a few hours of riding in today. This is unfortunately very likely the last weekend I can ride here and even then it's a bit iffy. It's supposed to go up to +2C today but its cloudy and has snowed. If the sun doesn't come out and heat up the roads I'm probably SOL.
So my mechanic gave me a bit of a small list to work on.
- Drain everything, fresh gas, see if that works
- If not, drain out the tank again, fill with vinegar and get the rust out. As I said, seasons over now so time is on my side. Not sure if it needs this or not but it doesn't hurt.
- Give carbs a very good clean, make sure jets don't need to be replaced. As the carbs are out bring them down to the mechanic to look over
- Give clutch cover a very good clean
- Clean chain and possibly replace, but likely just clean and grease
- Put on fuel filer (he gave me one, just have to install)
And I think that's it. Once that's done I should have a solid bike for next season! Plus finishing up on the cosmetic stuff.
The downside now is a lack of time. I have at least six months to get everything done before riding season but as of a couple weeks ago I'm being sent out of town for work. I leave Monday morning, get back Thursday night then work at the office Friday. In my free Saturday and Sunday I want to spend my time with the wife so until this job finishes up in mid March I don't really have much free time to spend on the bike. She sleeps in on weekends but my internal body alarm doesn't let me sleep in bast 630 or 7, so Saturday and Sundays I'll have a few hours in the mornings where I can boot over to the shop and work until she gets up. Hopefully the bike runs now and I'll pop a two day permit on it but if not I'll drain out the gas again, pop off the tank and start the de-rust process.
Wish me luck!